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It's "gut-wrenching" that the prank apparently led to a nurse's suicide, Mel Greig said

The pair says the decision to air the recorded prank call was not theirs

The two Australian radio personalities who made the prank phone call to a British hospital caring for the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge made tearful apologies Monday for making the call, which may have led to the suicide of a nurse who spoke to the pair.

Mel Greig and Michael Christian, both crying at times, told two Australian television shows Monday that their thoughts are with the family of Jacintha Saldanha, the 46-year-old nurse who put the prank call through to the ward where the duchess was.

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"For the part we played, we're incredibly sorry," Christian said on "Today Tonight."

The pair said the idea for the call came out of a production meeting before their 2DayFM show, the idea being to capitalize on what was the hottest topic in the news, Catherine's pregnancy.

The prank has drawn public outrage, which has snowballed since the nurse's death.

"This death is on your conscience," reads one post on 2DayFM's Facebook page. Several posters accused Greig and Christian of having "blood on your hands."

But in their interviews Monday, both stressed that while they made the call to King Edward VII Hospital, they did not have a say on whether it went to air. The call was recorded and then went through a vetting process at their network, Southern Cross Austereo, before it was broadcast, they said.

"This was put through every filter that everything is put through before it makes it to air," Christian said in an interview with the program "A Current Affair."

But Christian said he did not know what that vetting process entailed.

"I'm certainly not aware of what filters it needs to pass through," he said.

"Our role is just to record and get the audio," Christian said.

Greig and Christian said they never expected the prank call to be successful.